WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s point man on housing, Ben Carson, takes on a higher profile in the coming weeks with a series of appearances in Washington about housing policy and his agency’s budget.

It’s a contrast from Carson’s first three months on the job, in which the former neurosurgeon and Republican presidential candidate had a relatively low profile amid some verbal gaffes that stirred criticism on social media.

Carson headlines a homeownership forum on Thursday at the agency he leads, the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Next week, he testifies on Capitol Hill about deep cuts planned for HUD in Trump’s proposed 2018 budget.

Carson sparked outrage early on as secretary when he compared slaves to immigrants, and later said poverty is largely “a state of mind.”

JENNIFER C. KERR, Associated Press

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